Turkish refinery secures Canadian financing
Export Development Canada (EDC) said it is participating as lead arranger in the $3.3 billion debt-financing consortium supporting STAR Rafineri AS’s planned 214,000-b/d SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (Star) in Aliaga, Turkey (OGJ Online, Dec. 14, 2010).
EDC financed $150 million within the bank consortium, which will be used for development and construction of the Star refinery, the Canadian export agency said.
Based on SOCAR’s interest and involvement with EDC to date, and given its significant capital expansion plans in Eurasia, EDC said it expects strong growth in Canadian procurement from the Azerbaijani-owned oil company over the 15-year term of the loan.
EDC’s announcement follows the signing of loan agreements by SOCAR Turkey Energy AS, the Turkish arm of State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic, with 23 export credit agencies, commercial banks, and development banks to finance the Star refinery project (OGJ Online, May 30, 2014).
The planned refinery, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018, will include a 66,000-b/d hydrocracker, a 40,000-b/d delayed coker, and a 28,000-b/d continuous catalytic regeneration reformer.
In addition to a hydrogen unit able to produce 3.84 million cu m/day, the complex also will have hydrotreating capacities of 20,000 b/d for naphtha, 26,000 b/d for kerosine, and 68,000 b/d for diesel.
